Folklore of the Santal Parganas - Cecil Henry Bompas (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📗

XXI. (The Magic Cow.)

 

There was once a Raja who had an only son named Kara and in the

course of time the Raja fell into poverty and was little better than

a beggar. One day when Kara was old enough to work as a cowherd his

father called him and said "My son, I am now poor but once I was

rich. I had a fine estate and herds of cattle and fine clothes; now

that is all gone and you have scarcely enough to eat. I am old and

like to die and before I leave you I wish to give you this advice:

there are many Rajas in the world, Raja above Raja; when I am dead

do you seek the protection of some powerful Raja." As there was not

enough to eat at home Kara had to take service as goat-herd under a

neighbouring Raja; by which he earned his food and clothes and two

rupees a year. Some time afterwards his father died and Kara went

to his master and asked for a loan of money with which to perform

his father's funeral ceremonies, and promised to continue in his

service until he had worked off the loan. So the Raja advanced him

five rupees and five rupees worth of rice, and with this money Kara

gave the funeral feast. Five or six days later his mother died, and

he again went to the Raja and asked for ten rupees more; at first the

Raja refused but Kara besought him and promised to serve him for his

whole life if he could not repay the loan. So at last the Raja lent

him ten rupees more, and he gave the funeral feast. But the Raja's

seven sons were very angry with their father because he had lent twenty

rupees to a man who had no chance of paying, and they used to threaten

and worry Kara because he had taken the money. Then Kara remembered

how his father had said that there were many Rajas in the world,

Raja above Raja, and he resolved to run away and seek service with

the greatest Raja in the world. So he ran away and after travelling

some distance he met a Raja being carried in a palki and going with a

large party to fetch a bride for his son; and when he heard who it was

he decided to follow the Raja; so he went along behind the palki and

at one place a she-jackal ran across the road; then the Raja got out

of his palki and made a salaam to the jackal. When Kara saw this he

thought "This cannot be the greatest Raja in the world or why should

he salaam to the jackal. The jackal must be more powerful than the

Raja; I will follow the jackal." So he left the wedding party and

went after the jackal; now the jackal was hunting for food for her

young ones, and as Kara followed her wherever she went she could

find no opportunity of killing a goat or sheep; so at last she went

back to the cave in which she lived. Then her cubs came whining to

meet her and she told her husband that she had been able to catch

nothing that day because a man had followed her wherever she went,

and had come right up to their cave and was waiting outside.

 

Then the he-jackal told her to ask what the man wanted. So she went

out to Kara and asked him and Kara said "I have come to place myself

under your protection;" then she called the he-jackal and they said

to him, "We are jackals and you are a man. How can you stay with us;

what could we give you to eat and what work could we find for you to

do?" Kara said that he would not leave them as all his hopes lay in

them; and at last the jackals took pity on him and consulted together

and agreed to make him a gift as he had come to them so full of

hope; so they gave him a cow which was in the cave, and said to him:

"As you have believed in us we have made up our minds to benefit

you; take this cow, she will supply you with everything you want;

if you address her as mother she will give you whatever you ask,

but do not ask her before people for they would take her from you;

and do not give her away whatever inducements are offered you."

 

Then Kara thanked them and called down blessings on their heads

and took the cow and led it away homewards. When he came to a tank

he thought he would bathe and eat; while he bathed he saw a woman

washing clothes at the other side of the tank but he thought that

she would not notice him, so he went up to the cow and said "Mother,

give me a change of clothes." Thereupon the cow vomited up some nice

new clothes and he put them on and looked very fine. Then he asked

the cow for some plates and dishes and she gave them; then he asked

for some bread and some dried rice, and he ate all he wanted and

then asked the cow to keep the plates and dishes for him; and the

cow swallowed them up again.

 

Now the woman by the tank had seen all that had happened and ran

home and told her husband what she had seen and begged him to get

hold of the wonderful cow by some means or other. Her husband could

not believe her but agreed to put it to the test, so they both went

to Kara and asked where he was going and offered to give him supper,

and put him up for the night and give grass for his cow. He accepted

this invitation and went with them to their house and they gave him

the guest-room to sleep in and asked what he would have to eat, but he

said that he did not want any supper,--for he intended to get a meal

from the cow after every one was asleep. Then the man and his wife

made a plot and pretended to have a violent quarrel and after abusing

each other for some time the man flung out of the house in a passion

and pretended to run away; but after going a short distance he crept

back quietly to the guest-room. Hanging from the roof was the body of a

cart and he climbed up into that and hid himself, without Kara knowing

anything about it. When Kara thought that every one was asleep, he

asked his cow for some food and having made a good meal went to sleep.

 

The man watching up above saw everything and found that his wife had

spoken the truth; so in the middle of the night he climbed down and

led away Kara's magic cow and put in its place one of his own cows of

the same colour. Early the next morning Kara got up and unfastened the

cow and began to lead it away, but the cow would not follow him; then

he saw that it had been changed and he called his host and charged him

with the theft. The man denied it and told him to call any villagers

who had seen him bring his cow the day before; now no one had seen

him come but Kara insisted that the cow had been changed and went to

summon the village headman and the villagers to decide the matter:

but the thief managed to give a bribe of one hundred rupees to the

headman and one hundred rupees to the villagers and made them promise

to decide in his favour; so when they met together they told Kara

that he must take the cow which he had found tied up in the morning.

 

Kara protested and said that he would fetch the person from whom he

had got the cow and take whichever cow he pointed out. Telling them

that they were responsible for his cow while he was away, he hastened

off to the cave where the jackals lived. The jackals somehow knew

that he had been swindled out of the cow, and they met him saying

"Well, man, have you lost your cow?" And he answered that he had

come to fetch them to judge between himself and the villagers: so

the jackals went with him and he went straight to the headman and

told him to collect all the villagers; meanwhile the jackals spread

a mat under a peepul tree and sat on it chewing _pan_ and when the

villagers had assembled the jackal began to speak, and said: "If a

judge takes a bribe his descendants for several generations shall eat

filth, in this world and the next; but if he make public confession,

then he shall escape this punishment. This is what our forefathers have

said; and the man who defrauds another shall be thrust down into hell;

this also they have said. Now all of you make honest enquiry into this

matter; we will swear before God to do justice and the complainant and

the accused shall also take oath and we will decide fairly." Then the

village headman was conscience stricken and admitted that he had taken

a bribe of one hundred rupees, and the villagers also confessed that

they had been bribed; then the jackal asked the accused what he had

to say to this: but he persisted that he had not changed the cow;

the jackal asked him what penalty he would pay if he were proved

guilty and he said that he would pay double. Then the jackal called

the villagers to witness that the man had fixed his punishment, and

he proposed that he and his wife should go to the herd of cattle,

and if they could pick out the cow that Kara claimed it would be

sure proof that it was his. So the jackals went and at once picked

out the cow, and the villagers were astonished and cried. "This is

a just judgment! They have come from a distance and have recognised

the cow at once." The man who had stolen it had no answer to give;

then the jackal said: "You yourself promised to pay double; you gave

a bribe of one hundred rupees to the headman and one hundred rupees

to the villagers and the cow you stole is worth two hundred rupees

that is four hundred rupees, therefore you must pay a fine of eight

hundred rupees;" and the man was made to produce eight hundred rupees

and the jackal gave all the money to the villagers except ten rupees

which he gave to Kara; and he kept nothing for himself.

 

Then Kara and the jackals went away with the cow, and after getting

outside the village the jackals again warned Kara not to ask the cow

for anything when anyone was by and took their leave of him and went

home. Kara continued his journey and at evening arrived at a large

mango orchard in which a number of carters were camping for the

night. So Kara stopped under a tree at a little distance from the

carters and tied his cow to the root. Soon a storm came up and the

carters all took shelter underneath their carts and Kara asked his

cow for a tent and he and the cow took shelter in it. It rained hard

all night and in the morning the carters saw the tent and wondered

where it came from, and came to the conclusion that the cow must have

produced it; so they resolved to steal the cow.

 

Kara did not dare to make the cow swallow the tent in the day time

while the carters were about, so he stayed there all the next day and

at night the cow put away the tent. Then when Kara was asleep some

carters came and took away the cow and put in its place a cow with

a calf, and they hid the magic cow within a wall of packs from their

pack bullocks. In the morning Kara at once saw what had happened and

went to the carters and charged them with the theft; they denied all

knowledge of the matter and told him he might look for his cow if he

liked; so he searched the encampment but could not see it.

 

Then he called the village headman and